Individual Therapy

Private Individual Therapy

Individual therapy may be one of the greatest gifts a person can give himself or herself.

Individual therapy consists of a therapeutic situation where one individual (termed the client or patient depending on the therapy approach used and the therapy setting) is involved in the therapeutic process with at least one therapist. A therapist can be anyone professionally trained in the use of therapy, including a psychologist, psychotherapist, counsellor, marriage and family counsellor, etc. Thus, therapy differs from talking with or getting advice from friends, family, acquaintances, etc., as it is a professional relationship and service provided by a trained professional. In contrast to individual therapy, group therapy is loosely defined as having more than one client treated at the same time by at least one therapist. Couples therapy is the treatment of the relationship of a couple.

Individual therapy is almost always talk therapy. Though the patient may engage in other types of therapy and therapeutic treatments (such as art therapy or meditation), their individual therapy sessions are most commonly discussion-based, allowing the patient to verbally explore past events, trauma, ideas, relationships, and more. Some therapy approaches, such as CBT, are goal-oriented and more therapist-directive, whereas others, such as psychoanalytic therapy, are less directive and more dependent on the therapeutic relationship or on other elements of therapy, such as transference, to affect change.